[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 193 (Wednesday, November 3, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7690-S7691]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Elections

  Mr. President, there is a lot of interpretation about what happened 
in these off-year elections last night. Obviously, the results in two 
traditionally Democrat-leaning States are causing people to speculate 
about what it all means.
  And I listened to some of the analysis, and there are lots of 
armchair quarterbacks who are doing the analysis about what these--what 
we all

[[Page S7691]]

should interpret these results; and, certainly, depending on where you 
are, you probably, maybe, come to certain different interpretations.
  But some of what I heard this morning from a Democrat analyst was 
that this is evidence that the Democratic Party needs to double down on 
the big, reckless tax-and-spending bill because people who voted in 
Virginia and New Jersey last night didn't know what was in it, and when 
they find out all the good things that are in it, they are going to 
love this and they are going to want to support Democrats.
  And I have to say I think that completely misses the point. I think 
what people are saying is they don't want to hand the keys to their 
lives to Washington, DC. This massive, reckless tax-and-spending spree 
that is being contemplated here by Senate Democrats is historic in its 
sweep, its expansion, its growth of government, its cost, its pricetag, 
and it is historic in terms of the amount of taxation that will be put 
on the backs of the American people in order to pay for it.
  And I think what happened last night was a repudiation. It was 
repudiations of the nanny state and its belief that Washington knows 
best and that we should get people in this country more dependent upon 
Washington, DC.
  I think what the American people are saying is: We don't want to be 
more dependent on Washington, DC. We want Washington, DC, to let us 
live our lives and to focus on the things that are really important to 
us.
  And I think that the issues that were important yesterday had a lot 
to do with schools and kids and parents and whether or not they feel 
like they have control over their children's futures and what they 
learn in schools.
  I think it had to do with the economic future that people were 
looking out as they envision the future for them, for their kids and 
their grandkids, and they are looking at how stretched their incomes 
now are because of this growth and inflation.
  They are spending more on gasoline. They are spending more, as we 
head into the winter months, to heat their homes. They are spending 
more on food. They are spending more on housing. Literally everything 
in their world that they spend money on is going up, meaning their 
incomes are stretched thinner and thinner.
  So I believe that what people were saying last night is: We don't 
want more Washington government and less freedom. We want less 
Washington government and more freedom.
  And I think that resounded across the Commonwealth of Virginia and 
across New Jersey. And I would suggest that the takeaway for Democrats 
here in Washington should be not we are going to double down, we are 
going to spend--we are going to ram through in a partisan way this 
massive tax-and-spending bill; but, rather, let's pull back. Let's see 
what is happening out there in the economy. Let's see how it is 
affecting the average American worker and the average American family 
and the average American small business, and perhaps head in a slightly 
different direction that doesn't involve taking more taxes out of our 
economy and increasing inflation by flooding the zone with more 
government spending and, therefore, creating higher and higher 
inflation and ultimately making things more expensive for the American 
people to where they look at their personal financial situation and 
realize how much just the cost of inflation is impacting their family 
budgets on a daily basis, on a weekly basis, on a monthly basis.
  That, to me, should be the takeaway coming out of this because I 
certainly don't believe in any respect that it wasn't that the American 
people didn't know what is in this massive tax-and-spending bill; 
rather, it is that they do know. They are finding out what is in it, 
and they are finding out that these are a lot of--there is a whole ton 
of spending in here.
  And, honestly, you have to be pretty darn creative to figure out how 
to spend $3\1/2\ to $4 trillion, and there is a ton of taxing that goes 
with it.
  And there was a study that came out yesterday from Penn Wharton, 
which suggested that this massive and reckless tax-and-spending bill 
actually runs over a $2 trillion deficit over the 10-year period.
  If you look at the window, what it says is it is going to cost $3.9 
trillion. This is based on the text that is currently available. And 
the taxes that are proposed to be raised generate about $1.5 trillion 
in revenue; therefore, a $2.4 trillion addition to the Federal debt, 
which is already, as we know, at the $30 trillion range and growing, 
literally, by the day.
  So I would simply suggest to my colleagues here on the other side of 
the aisle that the message coming out of these elections is not ``We 
want more government for the American people. We want more dependence 
upon Washington, DC. We want Washington, DC, to do more things for 
us;'' but, rather, ``We want Washington, DC, to get out of the way, 
quit trying to run our lives, and create the conditions that are 
favorable for economic growth and job creation and higher wages so that 
we can take care of our families, rather than having to depend upon 
Washington, DC, to do it.''
  I hope that this will be the resounding message we need to defeat 
this massive tax-and-spending bill and allow the American people the 
freedom they need to lead their lives and to have better opportunities 
for them, for their kids, and for their grandkids--and better wages.
  Mr. President, I understand we have a vote coming up here, so I will 
yield the floor.

                          ____________________